Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

DIY indie-rock outfit Back to Winnipeg have been piecing together their debut album for two years, incrementally recording and re-recording song parts in bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms.     Appropriately titled, Apartment Living arrives this Friday, November 21. It will be officially celebrated two nights later, as Back to Winnipeg play a free gig downstairs in the Róisín Dubh this Sunday alongside fellow locals In Athens.

With nineties cult figures Pavement as a touchstone, it pulses with a lo-fi indie heartbeat, but four distinctive songwriters contribute to a broad church of a record that incorporates, among other things, grunge- and math rock-inspired songs.

Eoghan ‘Fitzy’ Barrett bore the brunt of the recording and production work, assisted in part by drummer Donncha Adams.

Though it wasn’t always an active work-in-progress, Barrett says the project has occupied his mind since 2023. The meticulous process of cobbling Apartment Living together was a consequence of the band’s setup.

“It was something that we were able to do, so why not do it?” he says. “We knew going into recording initially that we could re-record elements over time if we needed to. I wouldn’t say that was the plan when we recorded though… By the nature of just sitting with [the songs] for long enough, they all changed to some extent.”

A product of the Áras na nGael/Freehouse industrial complex, Back to Winnipeg have merited their reputation as a vibrant and dynamic live act since forming in 2022.

Anyone who has seen the band perform will have noticed regular swapping of instruments and microphones during the set, and an atmosphere that flits between jovial and emotive.

The variety in their music is no great mystery. With the writing shared among four people, a range of ideas make their way into the set.

“I feel like we all have very different styles, and just by the nature of playing together, it becomes cohesive,” Donncha Adams says.

Pictured: Debut album…Back to Winnipeg (from left) Donncha Adams, Cian Moran, Eoghan ‘Fitzy’ Barrett and Liam Moran.